photo credit - The Granite State News Collaborative January 15, 2020 As Cheshire County jail Superintendent Richard Van Wickler has said, the biggest mental health facility in any community is the local jail. Jails are often the first places...
By Pat Grossmith & Sheryl Rich Kern Late in August, a woman wrapped in a padded, quilted garment appears passed out on the floor of a locked cell at the Hillsborough County House of Corrections, familiarly known as the Valley Street...
Addiction and mental illness are modern problems facing a criminal justice system that is more than two centuries old. “The roots of [the state’s] criminal justice system come out of the countyships,” says Albert Scherr, UNH Franklin Pierce...
By Susan Geier It’s been said many times over the years as New Hampshire battles a long opioid crises: you can’t arrest your way out of a drug problem. But, you can’t treat your way out of it either, says Dr. Seddon Savage, chair of the Opioid...
In and out of jail and rehab for 13 years, Benjamin Bryant can now envision a newchapter. Medication-assisted treatment is the source of his hope. (Photo: Jim Vaiknora) By Kathie Ragsdale Benjamin Bryant was nine years old when he started using...
As State Adds Medication Assisted Treatment to Prisons, More County Jails Eyeing Solutions for Addicted Inmates By Meaghan Breen For inmates struggling with addiction inside New Hampshire’s state prisons, a new medication assisted treatment (MAT)...
July 17, 2019 By Ryan Lessard Chief Justice Robert Lynn remembers when he got a job as an agent at the newly-formed Drug Enforcement Agency in the early 1970s. Not yet 22 years old and straight out of college, he was the youngest person in his...
By Anna Berry Drug courts weren’t new to Audrey Clairmont. As a licensed social worker, she worked with a number of drug courts in the Boston area early on in her career before she helped launch the drug court in Merrimack County in 2017. So...
Christopher Ruggles receives a congratulatory hug at his graduation from the Merrimack County Drug Court in Concord on January 28. He was the first person to graduate from the program. April 17, 2019 By Anna Berry It was a Monday afternoon in...
By Annmarie Timmins April 17, 2019 Two years ago, an independent review team saw an opportunity for a new approach to protecting New Hampshire’s children through increased collaboration. After the team determined that the state’s Division...
Advocates Say Medication Assisted Treatment for Substance Abuse is Saving Lives Vermont's Medicated Assistant Treatment Program By Melanie Plenda The Granite State News Collaborative Those suffering from asthma, diabetes and heart disease can...
By Kathie Ragsdale Former Chief Justice John Broderick speaks to students at Portsmouth High School. (Courtesy) While asleep in his bed on a spring night in 2002, then-New Hampshire Supreme Court Associate Justice John T. Broderick Jr. was beaten...
